Howler with Man Made at Leeds Cockpit 3/2/2012

Stood alone on the stage with a guitar and a gold sparkly jacket the brave 19 year old played to a fairly packed audience. It is clear Nile Marr aka Man Made has inherited his father’s genes, the one and only Johnny Marr, but what makes him stand aside from his father is his emotive singing and striking song writing ability. It would have been interesting to hear the live performance with a full band as at times he was a little static; however at such a young age it was a fine performance of a wonderful EP. After Man Made’s set came to a close he quickly abandoned the jacket and donned a hat to become one of Howlers roadie’s showing how intimate the tour had become.

After supporting The Vaccines and releasing their debut album it was clear Howler were riding on a high, as they walked through the packed crowd to the stage. Technically the band played well, the Cockpit (as always) provided a great venue for both vibe and sound quality; the band also bantered well with the crowd from telling stories of how they offended the Scots to wearing audience members hats. However, Jordan Gatesmith was drunk and continued to drink from a whiskey bottle, he was swearing and spitting; this created a shambolic feeling to the gig as guitar strings were broken; the problem is it felt like a check list of how to be ‘rock n roll’ rather than coming naturally. However, it is refreshing to see a band embrace the image which perhaps hasn’t been seen since the early to middle noughties. Their set was enjoyable as the crowd lapped up performances such as Told You Once and Back of Your Neck, but just like their album it felt a little disappointing and unoriginal.